John bland



J. BLAND.

(No Model.)

BRIDLE.

No. 346,352. Patented July 27, 1886;

dz QGWITJVESSESg/ 7 IJVVEJVTOR WW g Attorney 4'.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JOHN BLAND, OF THOMASTON, GEORGIA, ASSlGNOR TO JOHN \VILLIAM BLAND AND ROBERT I. BLAND, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

BRIDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 346,352, dated July 27, 1886.

Application tiled May 18, 1886. Serial No. 203,564. (No modell TO 1.71 whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN BLAND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Thomaston, in the county of Upson and State of vGeorgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bridles; and I do here by declare that the following is a ull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l isa perspective view of one-half of abridle provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the blinder removed from the bridle, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the cheek-piece and the inner portion of the blinder.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to bridles; and it consists in the improved construction and combination ofpartsol'a sheet-metal bli nderl'ormcd with slots near its inner end forthe passage and securing ofthe cheek-piece, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, theletter A indicates the blinder, which is made of any suitablesheet metal and provided with a wire, B, beaded into the edges of the blinder, which has the usual outward bulge at its middle. The blinder is formed of two pairs of transverse slots, 0 O, and the cheek-piece D is passed from the inner side of the blinder through the lowermost of the lower pair of slots, whereupon it is passed through a loop, E, and again through the upper slot of thelower pair. The cheek-piece is thereupon passed up along the inner side oftheblinder andpassed out through the lower slot in the upper pair, when it is passed through a loop, F, and back through the upper slot of the upper pair. The upper end of the cheek-piece is thereupon doubled, to hold a buckle, G, which receives the billet H from the crown-piece, and the end of the cheek-piece is riveted to the blinder and to the other portion of the cheek-piece by a rivet, I, passing through the said parts. The lower portion of the cheek-piece is doubled to hold the bit, and the billet of the cheek-piece is inserted into a buckle, J, which is held in a doubled strap, L, secured at its ends to the blinder by means of a rivet, K, passing through the ends of the doubled strap, another rivet,

cheek-piece to break or rip.

The upper and outer corner of the blinder is formed with a slot, N, through which the end of a blinder-strap, O, is inserted and secured in the slot by its doubled end.

The blinder is preferably japanned or otherwise covered or glazed, preferably in imitation of glazed or so-called patent-leather, and the blinder, being entirely of sheet metal, will be very durable, not being liable to rip or break, as the leather blinders are liable to do.

By making the blinder of sheet metal enti rely a saving in the cost of manufacture is accomplished, as the usually constructed blinders contain a piece of sheet metal,besides the layers of leather upon both sides of the sheet metal, and the weight of the bridle will be considerably reduced by dispensing with the leather covering for the blinder.

The cheek-piece will be secured to the blinder in such a manner that it is impossible for the said parts to become separated,excepting either one of the parts is broken, there being no stitches to break or seams to rip in the con nection between the cheek piece and the blinder, as in leather blinders which are stitched to the cheek-piece.

It will be seen that besides the saving in cost of material accomplished by only using sheet metal for making the blinder, there will also be a saving in the cost of the labor em ployed in the manufacture of thebridle, as the cheek-piece may easily be passed through the slots and loops in a considerably shorter space 

